Same old, same old

Amazing how long we continue to milk the same old... old... ideas.

An article in The West today berated Australian business for failing to benefit from intellectual property. It seems that very few companies see intellectual property as a valuable asset. New ideas? Not for us, thanks!

It's the same with employment. Most job ads could be rewritten as, Must be doing the same work already but be willing to change employers. A very old suggestion was, hire a good employee and define the job to suit their talents. Now, we define the job and look for the square peg to fit.

New talents? New skills? New ideas? Not for us.

I recently began to read Pilgrims Progress... the only English-language book in a small Spanish hotel. It was interesting to see how little the tourist souvenir business has changed. This is how I remember the story...

Christian, the pilgrim of the title, invites some acquaintances to travel with him. As they reach the Mire of Despond, Stubborn has had enough and returns home. Flexible is willing to cross the Mire of Despond with Christian. (It's not my book, I can't help it if the message is hammered home with a sledge hammer.)

Having finally crossed the Mire, Flexible has finally had enough. "I'll just buy a souvenir tee-shirt," he says, "And return to my home and family." He buys a souvenir tee-shirt with the motto, "My father crossed the Mire of Despond and all I got was this lousy tee-shirt".

The motto was considered to be quite clever, back when it first appeared.

And so I traveled on to Barcelona, to check the souvenir tee-shirts of today. And found one that said, "My boyfriend went to Barcelona and all I got was this lousy tee-shirt".

Good grief!

"Father" has become "boy friend". And the same, tired, old joke continues.

Surely even a boyfriend would recognise the words as being old, stale, outdated! Perhaps it's time for the souvenir tee-shirt business to improve its act, to try out some new ideas. To move with the times.

How about, "My boyfriend went to Barcelona and all I got was this lousy venereal disease."

At least it's a new idea. Is a new idea too difficult for us to consider?

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Dr Nick Lethbridge
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"95% of the time I'm right. The other 2% doesn't really matter. "--per Ginger Meggs